🕶️ From good intentions to good profits: OpenAI’s pivot

Eight bullets of updates

1. 🛒 Amazon and AppLovin bid for TikTok to beat the deadline, amidst proposals from other major players, like a $20B offer.

2. 🤖 DeepMind's 145-page paper discusses AGI safety, predicting it could arrive by 2030 with "severe harm" risks.

3. 🚗 Tesla deliveries dip to 336,681, its worst in two years, amid backlash over Musk’s political ventures.

4. 💻 NVIDIA overhauls CUDA to support data center-scale AI computing with the new CUDA DTX, unifying GPUs and CPUs.

5. 📈 Meta’s VP of AI, Joelle Pineau, plans to leave amid plans to invest $65 billion in AI infrastructure.

6. 🧬 OpenSNP shuts down, deleting 13,000 users' genetic data amid privacy concerns and rise of authoritarian regimes.

7. 📉 Sam Altman warns OpenAI's capacity issues may delay products, impacting millions of users globally.

8. 🛡️ A new Nivenly fund offers up to $500 for responsibly disclosed security flaws in the open fediverse.

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From good intentions to good profits: OpenAI’s pivot

OpenAI is forming a group of experts to guide its transition from a nonprofit to a traditional for-profit corporation, focusing on understanding pressing issues faced by nonprofits. The group, including voices from health, science, education, and public services, will present insights to OpenAI’s board within 90 days, aiming to inform the company's philanthropic strategy before the end of 2025.

Founded as a nonprofit in 2015, OpenAI evolved to a “capped profit” model, taking investments from companies like Microsoft. Now, it's planning to convert its for-profit arm into a standard corporation with traditional shares, with the nonprofit receiving billions to relinquish control. With SoftBank threatening to pull billions if the transition isn’t completed by year-end, the pressure is on for OpenAI to meet the deadline.

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You’re Probably Calculating TAM (Market Size) Wrong

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These companies just raised money

1. 🏭 Venture firm Construct Capital lands $300M to boost startups in defense and manufacturing tech sectors.

2. 💰 OpenAI raises a record $40B, hitting a $300B valuation, with plans to enhance AI tools for 500M weekly users.

3. 🤖 Actively AI raises $22.5M to revolutionize sales with reasoning-driven superintelligence, boosting revenue for clients.

4. 🏡 Roam raises $11.5M Series A to offer assumable mortgages, potentially saving buyers up to 50% on payments.

5. 🚀💡 Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt's Aetherflux raises $50M to beam solar power from space by 2026.

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Trump’s ‘kind reciprocal’ tariffs

President Donald Trump announced new "Liberation Day" tariffs during a Rose Garden event, imposing reciprocal tariffs aimed at balancing trade. Countries will face tariffs calculated at half their existing duties on U.S. goods, with China facing 34%, the EU 20%, and Japan 24%, plus a minimum 10% baseline. Trump described the policy as a “kind reciprocal” meant to boost American manufacturing and jobs.

Existing tariffs of 20% on Chinese imports and 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico will be expanded to include beer, aluminum cans, autos, and auto parts. With a record $1.2 trillion trade deficit, Trump hinted at lowering tariffs on China if it cooperates on a TikTok deal. Some companies, like Suerte Tequila, plan to absorb the costs, while Walmart is pressuring suppliers to cut prices to protect consumers.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. Crash Course in Financial Modeling | April 10 |Online 

2. Startup Grind Conference 2025 | April 19-30 | USA

3. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator | Deadline: April 28 | USA

4. Startup Battlefield 200 | Deadline: June 9 | Global

5. Entrepreneur First London - Summer | Deadline: July 1 | UK

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